Target Word "In": Specific Feedback to Push Harder

Full transcript

Hi, it's Nicole from the NYU Motor Speech Lab coming in with your weekly tidbit. I wanted to continue last week's tidbit about the importance of very specific motor feedback in motor speech therapy.

I had the amazing honor and privilege of having Dr. Strand come in today and sit in on one of my sessions. The target word for this little girl is "in." We're much better at getting that final N with this word, but it's still tricky. This is still a hard word. We've been going between simultaneous production and direct imitation.

When I think about what I had been doing, I had really been focusing on placement: "This is where you put your tongue," and I would show her how to end it. I asked Dr. Strand today to look at this word. She made sure the little girl was getting the right placement, because sometimes she sticks her tongue out and sometimes she doesn't do anything with it. Once she had the right placement, Dr. Strand said, "Now push your tongue harder."

And believe it or not, this little girl got this word beautifully. Beautiful, strong, crisp N at the end. She needed that very specific feedback to push harder, in essence to recruit more neuronal fibers, to get the pressure that's needed for that N. It was incredible.